"They saved my life": Chelmsford Police sergeant recovering after NH mountain rescue
BOSTON - It was a decision that has Chelmsford Police Sergeant Stephen Fredericks now recovering in a Boston hospital. "It was too hot that day and I should have pushed back," said Fredericks.
An avid hiker who has already climbed 42 of the 48 so-called "4000 footers" in New Hampshire, he was nearing the summit of Mt. Moriah in the White Mountains last Saturday with eight companions when he got in trouble.
"I didn't realize at the time I blacked out and was crawling toward the top. My friends realized something was going on," he said.
Overheated and exhausted he had collapsed. Five miles from the nearest road his friends had to call for help that would take 11 hours when weather hampered an aerial rescue. Volunteers with the Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue hiked all the way in to carry him down on a stretcher. That's when he finally regained consciousness.
"I didn't quite realize what was going on, but soon realized I was in trouble, Fredericks said. "Am I going to survive this, am I going to make this?"
He survived, he says, due to their heroics, especially since they made the summit just after midnight Sunday and trudged their way down in darkness. "I think that rescue team that does this is something that's commendable," Fredericks said. "They saved my life and it came that close."
What he'll need now is physical therapy to regain his strength, but what he hasn't lost is the desire to achieve the goal of finishing the "4000 footers".
"It's going to take some time, maybe not this year. Once I get back into it and get my body ready again," Fredericks said.
The 25-year veteran of the force protects others on the job, but last weekend he needed the help with a lesson learned. "When it's too hot or too cold knowing when to turn back and take it from there," Fredericks said.
He says there is a saying that the mountain will always be there.